Wednesday, September 27, 2006

A la rue

(une) rue = a street
être à la rue = to be completely lost, to have no idea what's going on

E.g. il est complètement à la rue = the guy has no idea what's going on

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Cache

cacher = to hide

E.g.
Il est caché = he's hiding

A couple of interesting words using cache:
jouer à cache-cache = to play hide and seek
un cache-nez = a scarf (literally a "nose-hider")

And for people who like to hide secrets:
une cachotterie = a little secret
un cachottier = a secretive person, someone who has a (little) secret

And finally, Caché is the title of a 2005 movie by Michael Haneke starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche, about a couple that sees their lives disturbed by a series of video tapes seemingly surveying the exterior of their home.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Le pied

un pied (pronounced pee-ay) = a foot
If you're into slang, you can also say un panard (again, the 'd' is silent)

C'est le pied! or c'est le panard! = it's great!

une chaussure / des chaussures



un chausson / des chaussons

Monday, September 18, 2006

Le bureau

After a few weeks of interruption due to vacation, the French Word of the Day is back. Today:
un bureau (pronounced buh - ro) = a desk, or an office.

Very originally, this is also the title of the recently released French version of the famous The Office TV series. If you though the original BBC series was genious and the American version a worthy remake, get ready for the poorly acted, word-for-word translation into French. Even the editing is the same, but to their credit they replaced the Jello joke with a cheese joke.

See an extract of the first episode of the French version here. I personnaly can't wait for the Quebec version, expected in October 2006